In mid-term elections, enthusiasm matters. And, the Obama administration really hasn't done much to rally the base. Gallup's latest polling shows Democrats are ahead in the generic ballot, which makes sense as Republicans have nothing to offer:
Democrats lead Republicans by a slight 47% to 44% margin when registered voters are asked which party's congressional candidate they would support in their district "if the elections for Congress were being held today."At the same time, Gallup's inaugural weekly tracking update on the 2010 elections shows Republicans with a distinct advantage over Democrats in terms of enthusiasm about voting this year.That enthusiasm gap, measured for the first time by Gallup in this poll, is a real problem:
There are significant differences in enthusiasm by party, with an 18-point "very enthusiastic" gap between Republicans and Republican-leaning independents on the one hand, and Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents on the other.(click on photo for larger image)
If you don't deliver for the base, the base doesn't vote or contribute or phone bank. With all the political geniuses working at the White House and on the Hill (and with all their very high paid political consultants), you'd think someone would have figured that out.
